It took Food Network’s “Chef Jeff” Henderson nearly a decade in prison before he found his calling.

“I’m here to say to everyone in this room that it’s never too late,” he told a crowd at First Coast Technical College.

The New York Times best-selling author spoke to a crowd of about 150 people Wednesday evening at FCTC’s conference center about his journey from drug dealing to prison to becoming a successful chef, businessman and TV personality.

“When I became the millionaire drug dealer at the age of 19, I was finally somebody,” he said. “When you don’t know who you are, you’ll embrace anything...”

Henderson said his passions are talking with people who come from a troubled past and inspiring others. He does speaking engagements all over the country, and his St. Augustine stop was part of a three city tour in Florida.

He visited the campus earlier in the day to talk with students about the power of potential. He also made a dish of Southern crab cakes for them as part of a cooking demonstration.

Jedediah Pearson, 28, a culinary arts program student at FCTC, stood in the conference center just before the presentation began at 7 p.m. He attended the demonstration and speech given by Henderson earlier in the day.

When asked what he learned from Henderson’s story, he said, “Not to give up.”

Henderson flipped through a slideshow of pictures as he spoke at the evening presentation. One was of himself as a young boy. He said his parents divorced when he was a boy and his mother told him he was the man of the house, which he said was “a subliminal call to action.”

He started to think about stealing to provide food for his family.

“So I started stealing and got good at it,” he said.

Stealing gave way to drug dealing. Eventually he ended up in prison for nearly 10 years.

“I was reborn in that place,” he said.

In prison, he learned from fellow inmates, some from white-collar backgrounds, and he started cooking. That’s where he learned he had a talent.

When he got out, he wanted to cook, so he pursued a prominent African-American chef, Robert Gadsby, as a mentor and worked to change his image for success.

“I had to make the felony jacket disappear,” he said.

Eventually he gained the success he craved, starting his own company and becoming executive chef at the Bellagio, among other things. He released a book, “Cooked,” went on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and hosted a show on the Food Network, “The Chef Jeff Project,” where he taught disadvantaged youth by bringing them to his dining company.

Henderson said before the show that one of his greatest accomplishments is surviving the streets, prison and corporate America.

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The crowd was inspired to identify their own gifts and press forward to use them for the good of others!

I sat behind a group of young men who were demonstrably moved as Chef Jeff built his story of his early years. They indicated his story was close to their own reality by nodding their heads in agreement and commenting to each other. These men left the event with joy and motivation!

Another uplifting point in the evening occurred when the St. Augustine Historic Inns presented FCTC with a $5,000 donation to help local homeless citizens pursue job training and their dreams in culinary arts. This new program called “Fresh Starts in Culinary Arts” is clearly close to Chef Jeff’s heart and message.